The start of this year's Food Safety Month has been accompanied by an appeal to the public to follow food safety guidelines, including routine hand washing, separating raw food from uncooked food, and thoroughly cooking.
Other precautions include cooking with safe water and ingredients and maintaining food at acceptable temperatures.
The decision was announced at the occasion in Accra yesterday by Dr. Kingsley Mickey Aryee, Registrar of the Veterinary Council of Ghana, who inaugurated the project on behalf of the intersectoral Food Safety Coordinating Committee.
The month-long celebration with the subject "Food standards save lives" was crucial, he claimed, because standards were necessary to determine the food's safety and thereby save lives.
Dr. Aryee clarified that food safety risks permeated and crossed local, regional, national, and international levels. Food safety involves defending food against potential microbial, chemical, and physical dangers that could arise at different stages of food production and consumption.
Therefore, he emphasised the need to uphold high standards in order to, among other things, reduce the incidence of food-borne diseases, antimicrobial resistance, food insecurity, and poverty.
the event
The celebration, which is marked with events throughout the month of June, would take place on June 7, 2023.
Accordingly, the intersectoral food safety coordinating committee, which is made up of officials from several government agencies and other food value chain stakeholders, has planned certain events to commemorate the month.
A quiz for second-cycle schools in the Central Region, food safety education courses for schools, a webinar, a competition for food hygiene, a trade show, and stakeholder interactions are among the events.
Leading organisations organising the event include the Food and Drugs Authority and the national food safety laboratory of the Veterinary Services, with assistance from other food safety stakeholders and development partners.
the value of food
According to Dr. Aryee, food is necessary for the sustenance and continuation of all life, including that of people, animals, plants, and microbes. For this reason, all living things require food to thrive.
In light of the potential damage that unhealthy foods pose to global public health, he concluded that everyone should be concerned about food safety.
In order to support his claim, Dr. Aryee cited the World Health Organisation, which said that "food-borne diseases caused 420, 000 deaths globally and 137, 000 deaths in Africa, with children accounting for one-third of deaths."
Therefore, he urged the media to continually educate the public on food safety since "it is everyone's business".
Dr. Aryee thanked all of the collaborators for their assistance with the launch and planning for the remembrance of the day.
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